July 31, 2006

Labour

New slate of delegates for Loc.183

Elections officer declares nominations null, void

IAN HARVEY

correspondent

TORONTO

In a 31-page decision, the elections officer for the Labourers International Union elections officer has thrown out the slate of delegates to the September National Convention and ordered the trustees in charge of the troubled Toronto Local 183 to appoint a new slate to “ensure the democratic process.”

“... I find that the nomination of candidates conducted by Local 183 on May 9, 2006, was conducted in violation of the Election Rules and is hereby declared null and void,” states Joseph Guerrieri, Jr.

“I further find that the effects of the violations and the longstanding repressive climate of fear and reprisals preclude a free and fair election of Convention Delegates at Local 183.

“However, to provide the members of Local 183 representation at LIUNA’s 2006 International Convention, it is further ORDERED that the Trustee shall appoint a number of Convention Delegates who, in his judgment, are not associated with the misconduct leading to the trusteeship or affiliated with those former officers responsible for the violations and misconduct addressed herein.”

Last Thursday, LIUNA vice president and regional manager of Canada, Joseph Mancinelli, lashed out at claims by former Local 183 president Tony Dionisio and delegates nominated on May 9, 2006, that the democratic process is being subverted.

“The truth isn’t sexy,” Mancinelli told Daily Commercial News. “The fact is that Tony Dionisio and his small group of people have denied almost one-third of that Local’s membership their democratic rights.”

The decision sets up a major concentration Wednesday at the Ontario Labour Relations Board where Brian Shell, acting for delegates selected May 9, is to argue the case for inclusion at the convention as well as other issues, such as timing of an election of a new executive to replace the trustees at Local 183 and the recent firing of pro-Dionisio supporters.

“The truth isn’t sexy.”

Joseph Mancinelli

LIUNA

Mancinelli noted Guerrieri’s report states that as many as 6,000 members of Local 183 weren’t notified of nomination meetings.

Shell is to argue Wednesday that the new elections must take place to ensure members of Local 183’s voices are heard at the September convention.

A slate of pro-Dionisio delegates were set to challenge Mancinelli’s position in a power struggle Shell says is at the core of the dispute. Mancinelli says that’s a crock.

“Only 450 of 25,000 members showed up for that nomination vote. Of the 25,000 notices sent out, 6,000 were returned because the addresses were incorrect, Mancinelli said.

“Imagine if the federal government did that for an election. Tony Dionisio and his group have disenfranchised 30 per cent of their members.”

He said the Inkster Group, a private investigations firm headed by former RCMP commissioner Norman Inkster, continues to probe the paperwork at the Local.

“The books are in disarray, records are destroyed,” Mancinelli said.

“Tony Dionisio and his people control that local. He is despised by the majority and now persona non grata at the Local.

“They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on surveillance on anyone who is a threat. They misspent money like drunken sailors. It was a culture of intimidation and they manipulated the system.”

Shell and Dionisio were not available for comment.

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